• ‘Millionaire’ contestant

• Tuition increase

• Helping Kenyan children

• Library renovation

• Pearson Prize

• DU astronomer

Inside

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Stirring things upAspiring chefs from DU’s Ricks Center for Gifted Children received a weeklong

series of cooking lessons — including spending time with a professional chef

— during a special week called “intersession” for 5th–8th graders. During

intersession, teachers create classes designed to encourage students to pursue

a passion or discover a new one. Instructing the chefs-in-training was Dan

Witherspoon from Denver’s Seasoned Chef Cooking School. Besides mixing

and measuring, the students learned about the regional Mediterranean

cuisines of France and Italy. Witherspoon helped the students prepare

panna cotta with raspberry sauce, penne pasta with creamy blue cheese and

mushroom sauce and stuffed chicken breasts with rice pilaf. There even was a

banquet for parents.

Gold standardThree DU skiers took home gold medals in the alpine skiing competitions at the 25th annual winter World University Games held in Erzurum, Turkey, Jan. 29– Feb. 6. Jennie VanWagner (pictured), a sophomore from Traverse City, Mich., won gold in the women’s giant slalom event; Sterling Grant, a freshman from Amery, Wis., earned a gold medal in the women’s slalom event; and Seppi Stiegler, a junior from Wilson, Wyo., finished first in the men’s slalom event. Second in importance to the Olympics, the international sporting event for university student-athletes is held every two years.

w w w. d u . e d u / t o d a yVolume 34, Number 7

Interim Vice Chancellor for University Communications

Jim Berscheidt

Editorial DirectorChelsey Baker-Hauck (BA ’96)

Managing EditorKathryn Mayer (BA ’07, MLS ’10)

Art DirectorCraig Korn, VeggieGraphics

Community News is published monthly by the University of Denver, University Communications, 2199 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80208-4816. The University of Denver is an EEO/AA institution.

Contact Community News at 303-871-4312 or tips@du.edu

To receive an e-mail notice upon the publication of Community News, contact us

with your name and e-mail address.

U N I V E R S I T Y O F D E N V E R [ ]

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DU’s Morgridge College of

Education is partnering with

the Rocky Mountain Prevention

Research Center on the “Healthy

Eaters, Lifelong Movers” project,

which is estimated to improve the

health of more than 11,200

K-12 students by October 2013.

The partnership received a $1.8 million grant from the Colorado

Health Foundation, which says

Colorado ranks 23rd out of

50 for childhood obesity. During

the first year of the project, the

research team will begin work with

19 elementary schools in the San

Luis Valley and 10 elementary

schools in Eastern Colorado. They

will expand the program to middle

and high schools spanning 14

school districts in the San Luis

Valley in winter 2012 . By 2013,

the project will have reached 57 schools across both regions.

Alumna donates ‘Millionaire’ winnings to Women’s College

DU’s Women’s College will receive $25,000 for scholarships thanks to alumna Carter Prescott (BA English ’71).

Prescott was selected as a contestant on the syndicated game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” in late 2010 and pledged her winnings to the college.

The episode featuring Prescott aired Feb. 17.

While she was hoping for a longer run on the show, she was excited to get as far as she did.

“It was a great experience,” Prescott says. “I knew going into it that it could go either way. I had fun and raised money for scholarships. That means a lot to me.”

Prescott attended the Women’s College on scholarship.“I couldn’t have gone to college without the scholarship,” she notes, “so it means a lot to me

to be contributing to scholarships and making a difference in the lives of women.”The question that stumped her: In 1961, there was a contest to give Mr. Clean, the household

cleaner, a first name. Prescott was given four name choices: Veritably, Rollo, Gently and Wink.The answer? “Veritably.”“I am thrilled with Carter’s success on ‘Millionaire’ and her commitment to the Women’s

College,” says Women’s College Dean Lynn Gangone. “Through this scholarship gift, we can help more women advance into leadership positions through education. We are grateful to Carter for giving back to the college in such a significant and meaningful way.”

—Kim DeVigil

Tuition increases by 3.74 percent for 2011–12 yearThe DU Board of Trustees has approved a 3.74 percent tuition increase for the 2011–12

academic year.Effective fall 2011, full-time undergraduate tuition will be $36,936. Room and board charges

for students choosing standard double-occupancy rooms and the premium meal plan is set at $10,184. The mandatory student fee will remain unchanged at $321 as will the student health fee of $432 and the technology fee of $144.

In total, the cost of attendance for DU undergraduates will increase by 3.68 percent to $48,017.

Graduate student tuition will rise to $1,026 per credit hour effective fall 2011. Some graduate students enrolling in 12–18 credit hours per quarter will be charged a flat rate (tuition equivalent to 12 credit hours), or $36,936 for the academic year.

DU students and parents were notified of the tuition hike in letters sent by Provost Gregg Kvistad Feb. 24.

“At the University of Denver, our careful planning and actions in the last three years have not only preserved but enhanced the value of a DU education,” Kvistad wrote. “Building on a budgetary and fiscal discipline that was already in place, the University restructured its non-academic staff and reduced its expense budget.”

The University has continued to invest in its “core mission” of promoting learning by recently adding 16 faculty positions with plans to add 23 more next year. On the financial front, the University added $10 million in aid last year and intends to add more than $8 million next year. Those two investments, Kvistad wrote, “are the most important the University can make for a student’s education.”

—Kathryn Mayer

Cou

rtesy

of “

Who

Wan

ts to

Be

a M

illion

aire”

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When mothers with HIV/AIDS asked Karambu Ringera (PhD human communication studies ’07) for help to send their children — who would soon be orphans — to school, she didn’t just listen. She made a plan, rallied friends, raised funds and has since sent

nearly 1,000 children to school in her home country of Kenya. In 2010, three college students supported by Ringera’s education fund for orphans graduated with bachelor’s degrees.

But the staggering number of orphans in Kenya continues to rise.“There are 1.4 million orphans in Kenya and 2.4 million adults living with HIV/AIDS who will leave orphans when they die,” says

Ringera, who spoke about “Emancipating Marginalized People From Dependency” at the 2010 TEDxDU event. “We can’t institutionalize all of those children in orphanages. So I’ve started thinking, ‘What would be a proactive response?’”

The devastating news of infection, combined with the overwhelming challenges of poverty, make many women want to give in and give up, Ringera explains.

“How do we keep them alive longer so they don’t leave their kids too early?”

To Ringera, the solution meant addressing their poverty.She began helping women make jewelry out of recycled paper and watched

as the projects created sustainability, confidence and possibilities for the women.

“The cottage industries help create income to have good food and greater access to medication,” she explains. “Once a woman gets nutrition, medication and income, she thrives. It builds her self-esteem — and her confidence. HIV/AIDS is no longer the killer disease that it was.”

When Mary came to Ringera in 2004, she was a single mother with AIDS who couldn’t afford to put her daughters through primary school. Ringera taught her to make laundry detergent to sell and pay for their education.

Mary also joined the jewelry-making group. With the money she made on the jewelry, she bought chickens. She sold the eggs and a few of the chickens to buy a beehive. With the income from her successful detergent and chicken projects, she bought a bicycle to increase her distribution. Then people started asking her for bar soap, so Mary learned how to make it and added another product to her growing enterprise.

“Now she has become this awesome entrepreneur, and women’s groups are inviting her to come and talk and inspire them to start their own projects,” Ringera says.

Community-sponsored initiatives like Mary’s have long been a part of the grassroots work Ringera does through the nonprofit she founded, International Peace Initiatives.

But last fall, Ringera upped the ante and created a more formalized microlending program called Friends of Amani that will enable more women to

support their families through cottage-industry projects like jewelry-making, weaving, soap-making, beekeeping and raising chickens, goats, rabbits and fish.

“Friends of Amani is my way of creating a fund that can give these women loans to develop the kind of initiatives that will take them to the next level of financial security and enterprise,” she says.

Instead of “reinventing the wheel,” Ringera decided to use KIVA, a Web-based nonprofit that specializes in microfinance loans. Through the KIVA website, people can donate directly to the Friends of Amani fund. Women write proposals and submit loan applications, and KIVA approves loan requests that meet the requirements. Loans are issued to the women and then repaid back to KIVA, which then transfers the money to the lender.

Lenders can also give a “donation” instead of a loan. The entrepreneur still repays the “loan,” but instead of the repayment going back to the lender, it will go into the Friends of Amani portfolio to support other projects.

“It is a way to support these women so they live longer and so that we stop this ‘churning out’ of orphans,” Ringera says. “There is no nation that has developed through a welfare system. People need to create their own solutions. Otherwise, ideas from outside will not change the circumstances of their life. If the poor have access to small loans, they can take charge of their lives and create their own sustainability.”

>>www.kiva.org/team/friends_of_amani—Janna Widdifield

Starting small Alumna’s microlending initiative sends Kenyan children to school

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Penrose Library to be updated for 21st centuryPlans are under way for DU’s Penrose Library to get a new look and feel. The project is called the Academic Commons and is intended to support

the needs of library patrons in the 21st century.“When Penrose Library was built in the early 1970s, library spaces were designed to support individual study,” says Penrose Dean Nancy Allen.

“Now, the needs of students and faculty are changing. We have a wonderful opportunity to anticipate the way library patrons of the future will interact with information, materials, books and each other.”

The project, which will cost approximately $32 million, will update the inside and outside of the current building. Updates will be designed to offer areas where students can work in groups, develop team projects and collaborate with faculty and other students. The library also will allow faculty to combine research based on books and journals with online scholarly communication and digitized primary resources.

Renovations are expected to begin in summer 2011 and take 14–18 months. Preparations for the work are already under way. It’s expected to take a few months to remove everything from the library, which should be ready for construction this summer. All books and collections will be moved to a climate-controlled off-site annex and most employees will be moved to Aspen Hall. Most of the transition will occur after Commencement.

During renovations, the Driscoll ballroom and gallery space will serve as the library’s public space. All materials will be picked up and returned there and visitors will be able to access academic services such as the Technology Help Desk, the Writing Center, the Research Center and the Math Center.

The Quickcopy Center will move to the DU Bookstore.“We will retrieve and deliver collections during construction, aiming for only an hour or two between request and delivery,” Allen says. “We play

such a vital role for students and faculty at DU and will continue to provide all those services.”In the renovated library, active collections will be housed on the lower level with low-use collections located off campus in a new collections

annex.“I often get asked if we’re getting rid of the books,” Allen says. “I can assure you that books and other materials will continue to be as valuable to our

collection as our digital resources.”While dates could change, the target date for re-opening the library is December 2012.

—Kristal Griffith

DU student receives $10,000 Pearson Prize for higher educationA University of Denver student has received one of the first-ever Pearson Prizes for Higher Education.Felipe Vieyra, a junior political science and international studies major from Morelia, Mexico, was one of 10 recipients chosen for the $10,000

fellowship, which recognizes undergraduate students who are active in community service.Vieyra, a member of DU Students for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and a volunteer for El Centro Humanitario, organized a community

event called Noche Cultura to encourage involvement with the nonprofit and build relationships between day laborers and the Denver community. He was selected for his efforts to reform the American immigration system.

“Being an immigrant myself, I wanted to help immigration day laborers who are not easily integrated into the Denver community,” Vieyra says. “I am passionate about reforming the faulty immigration processes and wanted to do something about it.”

Vieyra says it took 14 years to obtain his American citizenship. Because of the experience, he says, he wanted to work on immigration reform in college.

“The immigration community in Denver has a mix of many different races and colors, but we all share struggles,” Vieyra says. “It is important to me to build community bonds to help break barriers and address important issues.”

The Pearson Foundation is the nonprofit arm of Pearson PLC, an international media company whose holdings include The Financial Times and Penguin Publishers. The foundation supports community service and educational leadership that address key social challenges.

—Katelyn Feldhaus

academic commons, south elevation rendering

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University of Denver Professor Toshiya Ueta deals in the big picture, looking at what’s not visible to human eyes from a platform cloaked in shadow high above the Earth. His quest is to understand the life cycle of stars.As an astronomer, he studies the very biggest questions of how stars — and their subsequent solar systems — die. How are the next

generations of stars born from the ashes of these dead stars? What keeps the cycle continuing?His work has earned him a coveted block of time as lead investigator to collect data from the Herschel Space Observatory. Like the

Hubble Space Telescope, the space-borne platform operated by the European Space Agency in cooperation with NASA has the ability to peer into distant reaches of cold space. Unlike Hubble, Herschel can detect faint heat signals in the far-infrared light generated by remote clouds of “dusty” particles that are believed to be the raw material of stars. The platform allows Ueta to view these clouds through their slight warmth. The Earth’s atmosphere, which is much warmer than cosmic particles, obscures that warmth.

The need to detect even the faintest traces of warmth is why Herschel is stationed permanently behind the Earth’s shadow of the Sun, to keep its ability to investigate the cold universe. When Ueta says “warm,” that term is relative to surrounding space, as in about minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

“I’m interested in stars that are like our sun, but older and larger versions of them,” Ueta says. “As they get past ‘middle age,’ stars start losing their surface matter and become a major source of material in space.”

Because he is looking into such distant regions, some 3,000 light years away, everything Ueta sees actually happened at the dawn of the Iron Age, around the time when David was ruler of the ancient Israelites in 1000 B.C.

“When stars get old, they swell up and the gravity gets lower and things start flying off,” Ueta says. “Those will be the building blocks for the next generation of stars. When I talk about this story, I always use the term reincarnation. This is the cosmic reincarnation cycle.”

To make things more complicated, the data Ueta is looking for is heat that isn’t actually visible to the eye. Instead, he will design a series of computer scripts detailing the data he is seeking, which will be collected and translated as numbers. Then, all of that data must be examined and interpreted for him to develop findings. With hundreds of terabytes of data expected, the process will take the volume of funding through NASA and at least three years to complete. It will involve as many as 30 scientists working with Ueta scattered around the globe. Of the project’s $414,000, about $309,000 will be directly under Ueta’s management.

Ueta’s research — dubbed the Herschel Planetary Nebula Survey, or HerPlaNS, for short — uses roughly 3 percent of all the available observation time on the Herschel Space Telescope in 2011, representing what’s believed to be the largest block of time awarded to a researcher from the United States.

To even submit the proposal to access the telescope’s limited time window, Ueta had to learn how the instrument worked and understand how to design computer scripts that will collect the data that will make his work meaningful. Each step of the way has involved intense study. The result, Ueta says, should be scientific evidence that will help us understand the intricate and monumental workings of space, time and matter.

“This is all part of a very long, very complex cycle,” Ueta says. “We are trying to understand the chemical and physical evolution of the universe on a very large scale of space and time.”

—Chase Squires

Eye in the sky DU astronomer earns a view from space

Courtesy of N

ASA

Events

[ ]Around campus 1 Labryinth Meditative Walk. 9 a.m.

Iliff Great Hall. Contact Barbara Gish at bgish@du.edu.

I Shot Andy Warhol, film screening in conjunction with Warhol in Colorado exhibit, with introduction by Museum of Contemporary Art Denver Director Adam Lerner. 7 p.m. Myhren Gallery. Free.

4 Michael Ondaatje, reading by The English Patient author. 7:30 p.m. Davis Auditorium, Sturm Hall. Free.

6 Documentary screening of 9500 Liberty, with directors Annabel Park and Eric Byler. 1 p.m. Cherrington Hall. Free.

7 “China and the Middle East: Islam, Energy and Ethnic Relations,” lecture by Professor Dru Gladney. Noon. Cherrington Hall. RSVP to ccusc@du.edu or call 303–871–4474. Free.

8 Book discussion with Chaplain Gary Brower. Talking about America’s Four Gods, by Paul Froese and Christopher Bader. Noon. Driscoll Center South, Suite 29 Conference Room. Free.

“Popular Resistance in Palestine,” lecture by Palestinian-American human rights activist Mazin Qumsiyeh. 6 p.m. Cherrington Hall, Arthur Gilbert Cyber Café. Free.

9 Ash Wednesday services. 7:45 a.m., noon, 4:45 p.m. and 9 p.m. Evans Chapel.

“Photographing Warhol,” forum in conjunction with Warhol in Colorado exhibit. 6:30 p.m. Myhren Gallery. Free.

10 “Yankee Whalers and the Russian Avant-Garde: Tracing a Family Tree Through Theater,” lecture by Allison Horsley, assistant theater professor, 4 p.m. Sturm Hall, Room, 286. Free.

21 School Days Off. Through March 25; also March 28–April 1. Ritchie Center. $50 per day. For information and to register, call 303–871–7728.

Daniel Handler, Denver Post Pen and Podium Series. 7:30 p.m. Gates Concert Hall. $39–$52.

22 Music and Meditation: “Storms and Calm.” Noon. Evans Chapel.

Bridges to the Future Lecture Series — 9/11: Ten Years After. Featuring journalist and poet Eliza Griswold. 7 p.m. Gates Concert Hall. RSVP at www.du.edu/bridges or call 303–871–2360. Free.

Exhibits 1 Warhol in Colorado. Through March 13.

Myhren Gallery. Gallery hours: Noon-4 p.m. daily. Free.

Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame Exhibit. Through March 30. Iliff School of Theology. Hours: 8 a.m.–8 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and 2-6 p.m. Sunday.

31 Jennifer Karady: Soldiers’ Stories from Iraq and Afghanistan. Opening reception 5–8 p.m., through May 1. Myhren Gallery. Free.

Arts 1 First Tuesday Student Concert. Noon.

Hamilton Recital Hall. Free. 2 Lamont Chorale and Lamont Men’s

and Women’s Choirs. 7:30 p.m. Gates Concert Hall. Free.

3 Lamont Steel Drums Ensemble. 7:30 p.m. Hamilton Recital Hall. Free.

4 Side Show, a musical. A co-production of the Lamont School of Music and the DU theater department. 7:30 p.m. Byron Theatre. Also 7:30 p.m. March 5 and 2 p.m. March 5–6. $15–$25.

Flo’s Underground, vocal jazz combos. 5 p.m. Williams Recital Salon. Free.

5 Piano Trio Faculty Concert. Featuring Richard Slavich, cello; Linda Wang, vio-lin; and Alice Rybak, piano. 7:30 p.m. Hamilton Recital Hall.

Sound of the Rockies, “Letters to America.” 2 and 7:30 p.m. Gates Concert Hall. $19–$27.

6 Guest Artist Recital. Svet Stoyanov, percussion. 5 p.m. Hamilton Recital Hall.

Lamont Composers Series. Leanna Kirchoff, director. 7:30 p.m. Hamilton Recital Hall. Free.

8 Lamont Guitar Ensembles. 7:30 p.m. Hamilton Recital Hall. Free.

Master Class. Svet Stoyanov, percussion. 1 p.m. Hamilton Recital Hall. Free.

9 Lamont Wind Ensemble. 7:30 p.m. Gates Concert Hall. Free.

10 Lamont Symphony Orchestra. Featuring Madoka Asari, piano, and works by Beethoven, Part and Strauss. 7:30 p.m. Gates Concert Hall. Free.

11 Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell. 7:30 p.m. Byron Theater. Free behind the curtain lecture at 6:30 p.m. Also March 12. $35.

12 Mike David’s Spirit of Adventure, featuring photos, stories and music from around the world. 7 p.m. Gates Concert Hall. $41–$69.

16 Olga Kern, Friends of Chamber Music Piano Series. 7:30 p.m. Gates Concert Hall. $12.25–$50.25.

18 Denver Brass Presents: Brass, Bagpipes & Co: Sláinte! 7:30 p.m. Gates Concert Hall. Also 2 and 7:30 p.m. March 19, 2:30 p.m. March 20. $12–$43.

19 Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet, world premiere of “SHIRO SHIRO.” 8 p.m. Byron Theatre. $28.75–$33.75.

24 Faculty Recital. Duo Esprit, featuring Basil Vendryes, viola, and AnnMarie Liss, harp. 7:30 p.m. Hamilton Recital Hall.

25 Like Father, Like Son? Piano, song and more featuring Jeffrey Kahane and Gabriel Kahane. 7:30 p.m. Gates Concert Hall. Free behind the curtain lecture at 6:30 p.m. $32–$48.

27 Mendelssohn Trio Faculty Concert. Featuring Theodor Lichtmann, piano; Barbara Thiem, cello; and Ronald Francois, violin. 3 p.m. Hamilton Recital Hall.

Unless otherwise noted, prices are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors and free for students with ID and DU faculty and staff.

Sports 4 Men’s tennis vs. UNLV. Noon. Gates

Tennis Center. Women’s lacrosse vs. St. Mary’s.

Noon. Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Women’s tennis vs. Colorado. 5 p.m.

Pinehurst Country Club. Hockey vs. St. Cloud State. 7:37 p.m.

Magness Arena. 5 Men’s lacrosse vs. Jacksonville.

1:30 p.m. Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Hockey vs. St. Cloud State. 7:07 p.m.

Magness Arena. 6 Men’s tennis vs. Nebraska. Noon.

Gates Tennis Center. Men’s lacrosse vs. Manhattan.

1:30 p.m. Barton Lacrosse Stadium. 7 Women’s lacrosse vs. North Carolina.

4 p.m. Barton Lacrosse Stadium. 9 Women’s lacrosse vs. Vermont. 4 p.m.

Barton Lacrosse Stadium.12 Gymnastics vs. Arkansas. 6 p.m.

Hamilton Gymnasium. Men’s lacrosse vs. Notre Dame. 7 p.m.

Barton Lacrosse Stadium.19 Women’s lacrosse vs. Boston. 1 p.m.

Barton Lacrosse Stadium.26 Men’s lacrosse vs. Air Force. 1 p.m.

Barton Lacrosse Stadium.31 Women’s tennis vs. Oklahoma State.

1 p.m. Stapleton Tennis Pavilion.Hockey: $18–$27; $5 for DU students. Gymnastics and men’s lacrosse: $9. Tennis and women’s lacrosse: Free.

For ticketing and other information, including a full listing of campus events, visit www.du.edu/calendar.

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March